The Oklahoma City Thunder Have Changed How Teams Handle Upcoming Free Agents

ByJoey Heldon July 25, 2018inArticles›Sports News

Life in the NBA sure is different than it used to be. Just 10 to 15 years ago, it was unheard of for a player to express interest in joining a new team a year (or more) in advance. Sure, players swapped uniforms during free agency. But while they were on the roster of one team, that’s where their priorities sat, at least in the public eye.

Nowadays, with social media, entourages, and just a whole lot more accessibility in general, players are far more open about their desires. For the past several months, Kawhi Leonard has said he’s only going to play for either the Los Angeles Lakers or Clippers, even though he’s still under contract for one more year. Similarly, a year ago, Paul George just about said he was going to join his hometown Lakers this summer.

Despite George’s proclamation, the Oklahoma City Thunder still traded for him. The Thunder gave up two promising young players in Victor Oladipo and Damontas Sabonis in the process.

Teams all around the league questioned the Thunder’s move. Why would the team take a one-year rental of a player, knowing he planned to leave at season’s end?

J Pat Carter/Getty Images

As it turns out, the Thunder may have just changed how the league operates.

Even though the Thunder lost in the first round, George re-signed for four years and $137 million. He didn’t even meet with the Lakers.

The Thunder bet they could convince George to stick around. From the day they acquired him, they made him feel appreciated. They wanted him to buy into the team’s culture and embrace those around him. It was a tremendous gamble, but it paid off in a big way.

Other teams are following the Thunder’s lead. The Raptors just traded for Leonard, losing arguably their best player in DeMar DeRozan , and young big man Jakob Poeltl.

Leonard is reportedly unhappy about the idea of playing in Toronto. However, the Raptors believe their city and franchise culture can persuade him to stay for more than a few months. And in acquiring Leonard, the Raptors managed to dump DeRozan’s hefty contract. Even if Leonard leaves in the summer of 2019, Toronto will be better off financially than they were this offseason.

Maybe Leonard does just stay one year in Toronto before leaving for Hollywood. But the Raptors had to take a chance – and it could change the course of their franchise.

If the Raptors do convince Leonard to stay past next offseason, we’ll see even more teams gambling on one-year rentals.

Guys like Jimmy Butler and Kyrie Irving will be free agents next season. Though they haven’t expressed a desire to play in a certain city, a team would still be taking a gamble in acquiring them.

As the Thunder have shown, having the right culture in place is important. Thanks to their gamble, the NBA has a whole new game plan for approaching soon-to-be free agents.

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The 10 Highest Paid NBA Stars Will Each Earn $40+ Million Next Season

ByJoey Heldon September 2, 2021inArticles›Sports News

The frenzy of NBA free agency is behind us, and teams are now starting to look toward the upcoming season. Before things tip off, every team is buzzing with excitement; even the worst squads in the league have hope when the games haven’t yet been played.

Players will be excited to get back on the court, and some are more amped than others. That’s because, for the first time in NBA history, the league’s top stars are all going to be making huge dollars. Ten players will take home at least $39.3 million with their contracts. Paired with possible incentives, endorsement deals, and other perks, they’ll all easily clear $40 million.

Here’s a look at the league’s highest-paid players for the 2021-22 season, with salaries rounded to the nearest $100,000:

Steph Curry , Golden State Warriors — $45.8 million

If you think Steph Curry makes an absurd amount of money, you’re not wrong — but the Warriors likely consider it payback for the beginning of his career, when he was wildly underpaid. Curry was on a four-year, $44 million contract that kicked in during the 2013-14 season. That means he was making just $11 million per year during the Warriors’ first championship run, the season they went 73-9, and their second championship. He signed a four-year, $215 million extension this summer, which will pay him just under $60 million during the final season of the contract.

John Wall , Houston Rockets — $44.3 million

The second-highest-paid player on this list, Wall also may be the most fragile. He suffered an Achilles injury during the 2018-19 season which forced him to miss 50 games that year, the entirety of the following season, and 42 games this past season. But he’s looking for a second chance at stardom in Houston, which could land him another lucrative deal after this one’s up (though it likely won’t be worth nearly as much). Wall has a player option next season for more than $47.3 million — it would be absolutely shocking if he turns that down.

James Harden , Brooklyn Nets — $44.3 million

James Harden started last season with the Rockets — where he signed an extension worth $228 million in 2017 — before being traded to Brooklyn. Harden has a player option for the next season worth $46.8 million, though he may decline it to sign a longer deal with the Nets. His first season on his new team didn’t go nearly as smoothly as he’d hoped. He missed games during both the regular season and playoffs due to injury, and he enters this year still searching for his first-ever NBA title.

Steph Curry (L) and Kevin Durant (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Russell Westbrook , Los Angeles Lakers — $44.2 million

In acquiring Wall, the Rockets traded one $40+ million man for another. Westbrook signed a massive deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and since inking that extension he’s moved on to the Rockets, the Washington Wizards, and now the Los Angeles Lakers. It’ll be fascinating to see how he fits alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis . But one thing’s for sure: the team is going to have a ton of guys that aren’t afraid of taking over a game.

Kevin Durant , Brooklyn Nets — $42 million

Durant came one toe on the line away from sending the Nets to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they likely would have been favorites to win the NBA title. He’ll get another crack at it this year, though he’s hoping he has a healthy surrounding cast, including Harden and Kyrie Irving . On top of next year’s salary of $40.9 million, Durant can also earn $1.1 million in likely incentives. He may be the best player in the NBA right now and just inked a long-term deal to stay in Brooklyn through the 2025-26 season.

LeBron James , Los Angeles Lakers — $41.2 million

James has had a rollercoaster of a career in Los Angeles since joining the Lakers back in 2018. He suffered an extensive injury his first year as the Lakers missed the playoffs entirely, but bounced back to capture his fourth NBA championship and Finals MVP in the NBA Bubble. This past year, the Lakers made the play-in tournament, defeating the Golden State Warriors to earn the seventh seed. They were eliminated in the first round by the Phoenix Suns, but are back to being among the title favorites heading into this season. James is also perhaps the most popular player across the world; with the revenue and number of fans he brings to the league, he’s arguably wildly underpaid .

Giannis Antetokounmpo , Milwaukee Bucks — $39.3 million

The reigning Finals MVP has been living the good life in Milwaukee. He helped end the city’s 50-year championship drought and re-upped to stay in town for the long run. With an extremely likable personality off the court, Antetokounmpo will likely add on quite a bit to next year’s salary with new sponsorship and endorsement opportunities.

Paul George , Los Angeles Clippers — $39.3 million

Though George may not have fully shaken off the “Pandemic P” nickname during this year’s playoffs, he did help lead the Clippers to the franchise’s first Western Conference Finals while his teammate Kawhi Leonard sat out with a knee injury. George and Leonard joined the Clippers together back in 2019. The former signed an extension before the start of last season while the latter just agreed to a four-year deal this summer. Both of the Southern California players are set on one thing: winning a championship in front of their hometown fans.

Kawhi Leonard , Los Angeles Clippers — $39.3 million

Leonard is probably the best two-way player in the league, though he comes with the caveat that he’s going to miss several games every year. Whether through load management or an injury, Leonard has sat out 73, 22, 15, and 20 games during the past four seasons. He’ll likely miss most or all of this upcoming season while recovering from his latest knee injury, but he offers enough when healthy that the Clippers were comfortable signing him to a massive deal.

Damian Lillard , Portland Trail Blazers — $39.3 million

We know Damian Lillard will make $39.3 million this season. We don’t know if he’ll still be on the Blazers when all is said and done. The team’s star player has expressed frustration with the franchise as they made offseason personnel moves, including bringing in Chauncey Billups as head coach. There have been rumblings of a potential trade request, though it’s unclear how much validity there is to those rumors. Regardless of where Lillard plays, you can bet he’ll have at least one clutch shot that we’re all celebrating at some point this season.

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